Market Watch: Clems, Pears and Pickles

If anyone has the inside sccop when it comes to the Ferry Plaza Farmers market it's Lulu Meyer, associate director of market operations at CUESA. You'll see her at the market, rain or shine. Every week, she'll be giving us her short list for the market—just in time for Saturday shopping. Go to cuesa.org for more information about farmers, what's in season and market goings-on.

Olsen Organicsreturns to market this week with navel oranges and their famously delicious Clementines. Farmer Ken Olsen grows his organic citrus on twenty acres in Lindsay, a small town at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. All of Ken’s fruit is tree-ripened for maximum sweetness and his Clementine’s –a small mandarin variety with a smooth deep orange peel and juicy flesh—are not to be missed. Link to Olsen: http://www.cuesa.org/markets/farmers/farm_66.php

Farmer Al Chourchesne of Frog Hollow Farms is well known for his delicious summer peaches but of all the fruit grown on his Brentwood farm my favorite is the Warren pear. Named for Thomas Oscar Warren a Mississippi man who first discovered the variety growing in front of the Hattiesburg, MS post office, the Warren is only grown by a handful of farmers in California. With its buttery texture and concentrated sweetness, it’s no wonder this particular variety is so popular with shoppers at the Ferry Plaza markets and a personal favorite of Farmer Al himself.

Starting this week Happy Girl Kitchen will be bringing their selection of pickled goods, jams and fresh juices to the Thursday Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. It’s great timing because this week Happy Girl will have a new batch of their Dry Farmed Tomato juice for sale. This simple tomato juice is made with Early Girl tomatoes sourced from Santa Cruz farms and just a pinch of sea salt. Happy Girl owner, Todd Champagne, suggests warming it up, icing it down or using it to cook with when you want to add a little bit of luscious liquid summer sun to any recipe.

Feijoas or “pineapple-guavas” appeared this week at the Twin Girls Farm stand. These small green fruits, which are native to South America, have a sweet tropical flavor that is somewhere between a pineapple and a strawberry. The creamy inside is generally scooped out and eaten but the skin is also edible, though it can be a tad bitter. The first of the year’s crop is generally the sweetest, so now is the perfect time to try them for yourself.

On November 19th the Thursday market will host a special cooking demo and book signing with Lucinda Scala Quinn, author of Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys. Lucinda is also the host of "Everyday Food" on PBS and the Food Director for Martha Stewart Living. Join us at noon to watch Lucinda demo one of her favorite comfort-food recipes: chicken and dumplings. After her demo there will be samples to taste, recipes to take home and Lucinda will sign copies of her book.